USTelecom Files Testimony on RUS Broadband Programs March 24th, 2008
David Cohen

Last week Congress began soliciting the views of folks interested in how much money is going to be provided to the Rural Utilities Service (RUS), a relatively small agency in the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture. USTelecom President and CEO Walter McCormick submitted testimony to both the House and Senate supporting the RUS telecom programs and offering suggestions as to how to make RUS more effective.

RUS can be a key contributor to America’s broadband future, and USTelecom would like Congress to ensure that the funding provided for the build out of telecom facilities, especially including broadband, is sufficient and well spent. Years ago there were those who contended that the job of RUS was done, that everyone had single party phone service (for those of you who can remember party lines), and that the agency should fade quietly into oblivion. Well, thank goodness that it did not, since policy makers have now rightfully decided that it would be a good idea for everyone, including rural Americans, to have modern communications facilities and service, including broadband Internet access.

Broadband communications vastly reduces the handicap of distance in rural areas, enabling services such as distance learning and telemedicine, and even just helping rural school kids access the same resources as city kids to do their homework. But for many high cost rural areas with low population density, it is just too darn expensive to build out the facilities needed to provide broadband service. That is where RUS comes in. It provides low interest loans and (a small amount of) grants to providers to construct those needed facilities. So USTelecom supports providing sufficient funding for those facilities to be built as an investment in the infrastructure, economic growth and people of rural America.

But there has been a big problem with the broadband portion of the RUS telecom program… Money is going to areas that already have broadband, while no funds are being used to build out areas that are unserved by broadband. Congress is currently considering the Farm Bill, legislation that generally is considered every five years and determines such things as diverse as the funding for food stamps and the crop support amounts for cotton and soybeans. But included in the Farm Bill are several provisions that would help better direct RUS funding to areas with broadband service. USTelecom strongly supports passage of the Farm Bill with the inclusion of those provisions.

The testimony also took into account the possibility that a new Farm Bill might not be adopted this year. McCormick noted that RUS could still make substantial improvements to the operation of the broadband program by adopting new rules.

As the broadband association, USTelecom has a keen interest in a well functioning RUS telecom program, especially including funding for broadband. Hopefully Congress will carefully consider our testimony and improve and fully fund this program so important to America’s broadband future.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 24th, 2008 at 9:15 am and is filed under Filings, Statements. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.